


Preparation

by coleander



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Humor, Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-06
Updated: 2014-03-06
Packaged: 2018-01-14 17:35:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1275097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coleander/pseuds/coleander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was the first official date night for MakoHaru and Haru's just about had it with the chiming of his phone. Rin, of course, takes matters into his own hands.  </p>
<p>or</p>
<p>In which Rin crashes Haru's dinner-date plans in preparation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Preparation

  
Staring back at him was Rin's attempt at reconciled friendship in the form of a flashing envelope icon beckoning to him with constant chiming.

Haru was a minimalist, keeping only necessities on his person and even occasionally disregarding the clothing standard. Fortunately for Rin, his phone had gone off immediately upon his arrival and he would be kidding himself to pretend he hadn't heard it.

He took his time getting settled however, figuring that he'd answer eventually and that no one should expect a quick reply anyway.

Unless, of course, it was Makoto.

Haru paused in setting down his groceries and glanced over at the side-table his phone sat on. Makoto would be coming over a few hours from now for their first official date; he might have texted to cancel or for clarification.

Conflicted, Haru sighed and shifted his weight. Curiosity was eating at him and he had always been unable to fight urges - competition and water aside. He tapped the bag of groceries then mentally scolded his weakness as he made his way over to his phone.

An unconscious habit of his, Haru held his breath as he delicately opened the message. His breathing was back as soon as he eyed the sender's name; labeled in red text with a picture of a plush shark: _RinRin_.

Their dinner plans were secure then and that was all Haru needed to know - his fingers already scratching out a short message of _"Not tonight, I'm busy._ "

With the message sent, Haru set his phone down and made the trip back to the kitchen only to hear the chime go off again. He ignored it this time, now aware that he could afford to without changes in his schedule.

Haru took a moment to praise himself at the view of his selection for dinner and quietly left the meat to defrost. His phone chimed again as he entered the bathroom and once more, although faint from the walls, as he slid into the bathtub.

 

* * *

 

With a towel draped over his head, Haru took to the kitchen with practiced grace. He set out the vegetables, chopped them easily and started on the base of curry without flaw. He had seen Mrs. Tachibana prepare the meal twice before and never failed to take mental notes in hopes of replicating her technique. Since childhood, he had a hunch that he would be tested on his observation at some point and with the stirring of the pot before him, he couldn't help the small smile drawn out of him.

As soon as he settled for waiting, knowing the curry would take time to grow hearty, the familiar chime of his phone rang through the air. He immediately considered ignoring it until realizing that the chime was constant - meaning that it wasn't a text but rather, a phone call. He hesitated - would Rin call him? His curiosity was peaked once more and he lifted the phone, answering without speaking.

"Ah, Haru! I might be later than I thought. My parents are going out and the babysitter wasn't able to come," Makoto rambled, apologetic nervousness in his continuous dialogue, "-I can try to get them to sleep sooner, but they're so hyper right now and I-"

"I'll come over," Haru stated, thumb over the end button and nearly hanging up before Makoto quickly stopped him.

"No!" He took a deep breath and Haru could feel his sheepish smile through the line, "No, you don't have to do that. I really want to do this."

Haru bit his lip, fighting the growing warmth in his chest, "You're sure?"

"Yes," undoubtedly, Makoto was wearing his enamored smile and it made Haru swallow uneasily, "I've got a sitter in mind, anyway. It's fine, Haru."

The swimmer nodded, quietly breathing out a 'fine' once he realized Makoto couldn't have seen him.

"I'll have to wait for them to get here though, so that might take a while," the brunet explained, leaving Haru to nod dumbly again before uttering a quick 'right.'

"So, I'll see you in an hour and a half?"

"Okay," Haru confirmed, his lip finally released from his teeth, "I'll see you then."

He hung up, nerves itching for time to skip and eager to fill his other four senses with Makoto's presence. A glance at his phone's screen told of four missed messages from Rin; the ones he hadn't bothered to check before.

He had time to spare, he supposed, and it'd be pointless to ignore them completely if Rin had felt the need to send three more messages over the necessary limit.

He tapped the envelope and scrolled through them:

_Come on, just come over. Ai's on a trip and I'm not a hermit like you._

_The silence hurts, come on Haru._

_I'll sneak you into the pool. Any time you want._

_Screw it, I'm coming over._

Haru jolted, checking the time slot and noting that it had only been sent ten minutes ago. Hurriedly, he typed a blunt command message : _Don't come over, I'm busy tonight._

He carried his phone into the kitchen, setting it on the counter as he checked the pot. The aroma of curry was beginning to spread, though Makoto wouldn't be over for a while. He set the temperature lower, hoping that it'd cook to meet the time slot.

The familiar chime made his hand reach out immediately to find the response: _Already on the train. I'm coming over._

Annoyed, Haru texted a final warning before resisting the urge to throw his phone down and instead went on to cooking. He prepared his own dish, fish replacing the chicken as expected.

In the midst of his cooking, the fish already giving off a light trail of smoke, his phone dared to chime once more. Haru felt his jaw clench, his fingers absentmindedly grabbing for the phone. He turned from the counter and frowned:

_How do you walk up all these stairs everyday?_

Swearing under his breath, Haru tossed the phone down and made to guard the door. As he drifted from the counter, however, smoke filled his face and the threat of a fire flashed in his mind. He needed a house to hold a date.

Further irritated, Haru turned and flipped the fish. The top was darkened past a crisp and from the look of the newly heated side, there would be char soon.

Faintly, from the other side of his front door: "Haru, I'm coming in!"

"No, get out!"

Had his hands not been full with desperate attempts at keeping the food from burning, Haru would have bolted to the door and firmly turned the locks.

The doorknob turned, Haru tightened his grip on the pan handle. His eyes shut, waiting for the whine of a door in the background.

He listened carefully, the door now abandoned after the initially confused and aggressive jiggling.

It was locked.

Haru mentally pat himself on the back, vaguely recalling his habit of turning the lock as he got home earlier. He smiled faintly, nodded, and allowed himself to bask in the peace he was left with for a moment.

"Tch, it's burning, idiot."

Shimmering blue darted to the pan, where smoke was swelling and coating the air by the second. He made a small panicked noise, to which Rin gave him an amused chuckle.

Resolving to handle each problem at a time, Haru pulled the pan off of the burner and wafted the smoke away from his face. Upon brief inspection - really, it took two seconds to see the amount of black riddling the pan - Haru decided that the fish was destined for the trash. He dumped it in the bin, scraping as much of it off as possible, before frustratedly setting the pan in the sink and sighing deeply.

Failing to repress the annoyance in his gaze, he turned and faced Rin,

"Only Makoto uses the back door."

"Yeah, I figured," the redhead shrugged, a smirk playing on his lips as he continued, "You guys have always been kinda weird like that. I respect it."

The immediate urge to punch the smirk off of Rin's face was barely contained, Haru's eyes narrowed.

He didn't appreciate perverted humor.

"Why are you here?" The words had slipped out, glazed in a sour venom that was reserved for this button-pushing idiot.

Rin took it nonetheless, leaning against the counter and making himself comfortable, "I told you I was coming over, you kno-"

"And I told you not to."

"Still would've burned it," Rin resolved, now eyeing the pot of curry barely giving off an aroma. Haru followed his gaze and put an arm up, defending the honor of the food he had left.

"You don't look that busy," Rin continued, moving his gaze from the pot to Haru's frown, "I didn't think you were the curry type."

Haru dropped his arm and leaned against the counter, arms freshly crossed and voice still filled with stubborn resentment, "Makoto is."

Rin blinked, eyebrows drawing together before rising with a smirk along with it. He laughed, amused in the face of an increasingly irritated Nanase.

"You could've told me that. I thought you were just in your tub or something," he wedged his way into the kitchen, easily evading Haru's swift movement of his leg.

"Don't touch anything," Haru warned, tensing when Rin proceeded to lift the lid off of the pot of curry anyway, "Rin, _don't_. I mean it."

"I'm just making sure you didn't screw this up," the redhead assured him, his expression showing vague satisfaction, "You burnt the fish and all."

"That's only because _you_ showed up," Haru snapped back, turning back into the kitchen and pushing Rin's hand down to re-cover the pot.

Rin sighed and gave him a pointed look before pulling his hand back to rest in his pockets. Haru looked him over, a silent warning to not touch anything, and went back to the counter to give the fish another attempt.

Rin observed quietly with his jaw supported by a single hand, back arched forward as he leaned onto the counter in interest.

He made another 'tch' sound as Haru began preparing the fish, shook his head as the filet went into the pan, and regained his posture with a deep sigh once the fish was flipped.

The background clatter of cookware became more defined with Rin's commentary: the knife cutting with more aggression then being all but thrown into the sink with a loud clash of metal.

"Is there something you need, _Rin_?" He finally asked, agitated beyond belief.

Rin merely shrugged, "I'm just watching."

Throwing a glance back to the sink, where the knife seemed to be glowing with potential, Haru narrowed his glare, "More."

His guest sighed again, his whole body shifting to the side and pouting as if talking to a three-year old, "I'm watching. To make sure you don't screw it up."

"Then why do you keep making noises?"

"Because you keep almost screwing up!"

Haru stared at the fish, boring holes into it with the last remains of his quickly-deteriorating patience. He took a deep breath - an image of Saint Makoto flashing in his mind and the vague thought of 'What Would Makoto Do?' keeping every ounce of dignity from socking Rin in the face.

He composed himself and turned to his guest.

"Would you like to help, Rin?" He asked, voice shaking with repressed frustration.

Rin considered him, eyes flickering to the pan then to the pot, "When is he getting here?"

Annoyance forgotten, Haru blinked and checked his phone.

He swore under his breath and rushed to the groceries he had previously set out, leaving Rin to watch questioningly.

"Haru," he tried, calm but firm, "Haru, answer me."

The swimmer in question continued moving, hands quickly fetching a knife and nearly slicing Rin's fingers in the process.

"Haru _ka,_ " Rin pressed, deliberately stressing the the ending with practiced patience. He had a sibling after all, he knew how to annoy with a simple name.

Haru threw him a glance, simple acknowledgement. Rin waited, knowing he'd gained his attention.

"Half an hour."

Rin nodded and pulled off his jumper, "What do you need done?"

Seeing that Haru was ignoring him again, Rin grabbed his forearm and slipped the knife out of his hand.

"I've got the chicken," he insisted.

Haru hesitated, eyes lingering on the knife for a second too long, "Don't-"

" _You're_ the one who screws up," the redhead teased, a challenge in his tone, "You can thank me when he's praising the chicken over the curry."

Haru scoffed and took to the other side of the kitchen, bringing out a bowl and focusing on his dessert. His expression quickly morphed into a determined frown, eyes darting over to Rin to equate his own work with his competitor.

As Rin began to cook the meat, Haru finally spoke up, "He likes cake more than chicken."

The redhead smirked, "It's gotta be really good cake to beat _this_ chicken."

"No contest," Haru countered, eyebrows furrowed and confidence in his voice.

Rin laughed and continued cooking, purposefully moving to block Haru's path whenever possible.

 

* * *

 

The front door received a hearty knock a good half hour later.

Haru, absorbed in a fervent rush to finish his dessert while maintaining competitive glances with Rin, hadn't noticed.

What had started as friendly teasing had quickly dissipated into competition, the prize being recognition and Makoto's favor. Haru had told himself he wasn't going to let Rin get the better of him but somehow he had found his arms craving to work faster, his feet carrying him in a reckless desire for movement and before he knew it, he was in the same rat-trap as he always found himself.

Not that Rin's shameless smirks were anything other than an obnoxious form of foreshadowing. Begrudgingly, Haru insisted that it was the mention of Makoto that had pushed him into this rather than Rin's persuasion skills. Or, if he wanted to get introspective, it was the insecurity that plagued him - _(Makoto must be bored with someone so quiet, Rin's anything but quiet)._

Of course, it was _both of their faults_ that the crescendo at the front door went ignored.

Further more, it was both of their faults that Makoto - with red knuckles and labored breathing - found his date and his redhead rival in the kitchen and promptly, predictably, went ignored.

Watching the rivalry shifted the confusion in his eyes to amusement and Makoto found himself further observing; eyes ghosting over Haru's movements with fondness twinkling in forest green. He leaned in the doorway, smile softening at Haru's concentration as he worked,

Rin had finished quietly, gaze drifting over to Haru and mouth open to boast before he immediately spotted Makoto. He followed the brunet's stare, landing on Haru's focused expression complete with lip-biting.

Haru finished icing the cake he had so diligently decorated, shoulder dropping and chest expanding with the release of hitched breath. He eyed his work with a critical eye and nodded, decidedly pleased.

"It looks lovely," Makoto commented quietly as Haru's shoulders jumped up in surprise. Rin stifled a laugh and took a hint, making a move for the exit.

"You were right, I guess," he admitted, setting a hand on Haru's shoulder as he made to leave. Haru's eyes flickered over to him and back to the cake.

Rin couldn't fight the smile on his lips and gave his shoulder a pat, "Don't screw anything else up."

Despite his initial frown, Haru managed a faint smile and nodded.

As the front door shut, Makoto strolled over to Haru, who had set down his tools and stared openly at his date.

"He invited himself. I told him not to come," the words began spilling out of his conscience, not an ounce of restriction spent on justifying the situation, "I told him not to touch anything, also."

Makoto merely smiled, patiently watching Haru's nerves boil over in the form of unnecessary excuses.

"What were you right about?" He asked quietly, hands brushing over Haru's shoulders to keep him focused. Haru paused, eyes searching and vibrating from Makoto's eyes to something he must have read in them. His skin warmed, ears reddening and throat suddenly dry.

"I said-..he-," he swallowed, lips firmly pouting with the turn of his head, "You liked the cake."

Makoto nodded, smile only melting further into adoration as he eyed his boyfriend in his flustered state. His hands sunk down, running over Haru's arms and resting at his waist to reel him in as Makoto placed a kiss to his temple.

"I did," he agreed quietly, sweetly. Haru took a breath and his shoulders rested.

Teasingly, his phone chimed. Haru wasted no time nearly knocking Makoto to the ground in his dash to lock the door.

**Author's Note:**

> my whole basis of this was: 'Haru doesn't care about anyone's texts unless it's Makoto' and evolved into 'Rin likes to invade Haru's house when he's bored then piss him off'


End file.
